1. Fiekld of the Invention
The present invention relates to conveying apparatus, and more particularly to a novel conveying system operable to selectively turn articles transferred from a first conveyor to a second conveyor for selectively orienting predetermined article sides to face in the downstream direction of travel of the second conveyor.
In various manufacturing or packaging operations, it is often the case that articles such as cartons or boxes travel down a conveyor to an end station where they are either manually or automatically stacked on a pallet or the like for subsequent transfer. In the case of rectangular cartons, such cartons are typically stacked in layers, each layer comprising a plurality of cartons. In order to provide some support between the layers, the cartons may be stacked so that the cartons in adjacent layers overlap. Such overlapping serves to intertie the layers and prevents the cartons from tipping over when a stack is moved. In conveying systems, it is typical that rectangular cartons travel down a conveyor such that only one side of a carton is presented at the downstream end. As a consequence, individuals stacking the cartons must physically turn the cartons in order to alternately stack them in the aforementioned intertied stacking arrangement. If the boxes are large and heavy, such alternate turning by individuals is burdensome as well as time consuming.
It can be readily appreciated that it is desirable to provide a conveying system which would selectively orient the sides of an article so that selected sides of articles would be alternately presented to face the end of a conveyor. If selected sides were presented, the boxes would not have to be turned in order to coincide with a stacking pattern. The present invention is directed toward providing a conveying system which selectively turns articles transferred from a first conveyor to a second conveyor so that predetermined sides of an article are presented at the downstream end of the second conveyor. To accomplish such turning, the present invention utilizes a novel arcuate guide member for selectively engaging articles to turn articles along an arcuate path defined by the arcuate guide member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various systems and devices have been heretofore proposed to turn articles traveling down a conveyor. However, these systems do not provide for presenting alternate sides of a box or article at the end of a conveyor. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,517 there is disclosed a high-speed container orienting mechanism which is used to re-orient elongate cylindrical containers. Specifically, this patent discloses a system in which containers traveling in the direction of their longitudinal axes are rearranged so that the containers are positioned one next to another with their longitudinal axes parallel to one another. Initially, the containers are delivered with their longitudinal axes in line onto an endless conveyor belt whereupon the containers contact an arcuate guide for travel therealong on the endless belt. The containers are re-oriented onto a receiving conveyor in single file upright position with their longitudinal axes parallel to each other. It is to be noted that the mechanism does not provide selective turning of the containers so that a predetermined container side faces downstream in the receiving conveyor.
Another prior art conveyor including an arcuate turning mechanism is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,783. Here, a bale conveying apparatus is disclosed which transfers a bale from a first conveyor to a second conveyor disposed at right angles thereto by providing an arcuate guide rail for turning a bale so that the same side of consecutive bales always face in the downstream direction of travel on the second conveyor. It is readily apparent from a consideration of this patent that there is no provision for selectively turning a bale so that preselected alternate sides of consecutive bales face downstream in the direction of travel of the second conveyor.